Lighters comprising a device for adjusting the delivery of fuel feeding the flame



July 21, 1959 c. zr-:LLwEGr-:R

LIGHTERS con/:msx

2,895,318 NG A DEVICE FOR ADJUSTING THE DELIVERY oF FUEL FEEDING THE. FLAME Filed Jan. 22, 1957 nited States Patent O LIGHTERS COMPRISING A DEVICE FOR ADJUST- {TN DELIVERY F FUEL FEEDING THE Conrad Zellweger, Chene-Bougeries, Switzerland, assignor to La Nationale S.A., Geneva, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Application January 22, 1957, Serial No. 635,521

Claims priority, application Switzerland February 8, 1956 6 Claims. (Cl. 67-87) There are known, equally well on petrol and liqueed gas lighters, adjusting devices enabling the supply of fuel to the flame to be modied. These devices mainly consist of a wick or a porous body by means of which the capillary passage is modified by a variation of the compression.

It has been found, particularly in gas lighters that the movements to which the parts are to be subjected, for obtaining a Variation of the llame from a minimum to an admissible maximum, are of the order of a few microns to some hundredths of a millimeter.

In practice these adjusting devices have the disadvantage, for the user, of being excessively sudden and necessitating, in general, the use of a tool or a Spanner for the operation thereof. Further, it is difficult to adjust the flame exactly at the desired size.

On the other hand, it is advantageous, in liquefied gas lighters, to be able to adjust momentarily the supply to a value much too high for current usage, so as to cause a large quantity of gas in the liquid state to pass into the porous body and thus obtain a cleansing of the latter for removing the residues which are deposited in the body after a predetermined period of use.

The invention has for its subject a lighter comprising a device for adjusting the flame, characterised in that the said device comprises at least two actuating members for the adjustment, of which the rst permits of a rapid adjustment and the second a line adjustment.

This device permits of obtaining a fine adjustment of the llame without difficulty, and further, in the case of liquefied gas lighters, comprising a porous body for the evaporation of gas, the member for rapid control of the adjustment permits of momentarily increasing the supply in an exaggerated manner for cleaning the porous body.

One lform of construction of a lighter according to the invention and a modification of a burner, are shown diagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a vertical section of a lighter according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line Il-II of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section of a burner according to another form of construction.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a portion of the burner according to Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows a key for adjusting the burner according to Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of a particular washer used in the burner according to Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view of the valve arrangements shown in Fig. 1.

The lighter shown in Figure 1 comprises a body 1 having a means therein forming a reservoir and surmounted by pivoted cover 2. Within the reservoir there is located an inlet tube 3 having an orifice 4 for the passage of gas in the liquid state. At the bottom of the tube 3 there is provided an adjustable abutment pin 5 firice having a head at its inner end while its lower end is secured to a screw 6 capable of being actuated from the outside of the lighter body. A iluidtight joint 7 is provided on the screw 6 for preventing leakage of gas to the outside. The upper face of the abutment pin 5 serves as a valve seat against which a piece of fabric 8 may be clamped by the valve body or casing 9 having an inlet orice 10 for supplying gas to a gas outlet tube 11.

Within the outlet tube 11 slides a valve stem 12 whose upper end together with the mouth of the tube constitutes a burner element or head. The said upper end of the `stem 12 may be displaced inwardly by the stud 13 subjected to the action of a spring 14 and located in a socket 15 of the cover 2 when the latter is closed. The lower end of the stem 12 is enlarged to form the valve proper 12a carrying a sealing lining 12b for closing the orifice 10 when the stem is pushed downward by the stud 13. When the cover 2 is open, the stem 12 is pushed upward by spring 16 located in a recess at the bottom of the tube 11 to open the inlet orifice 10. The upper end of the spring 16 engages an annular shoulder 16a on the stem while the bottom end rests on a washer clamped between the upper edge of the valve body 9 and a shoulder on the tube 11.

The -valve body 9 ttedin the lower end of the outlet tube 11 has a iluidtight washer 17 surrounding the same to prevent leakage of gas between the outlet tube 11 and the inlet tube 3 in which the outlet tube can slide. A spring 18 is located in the lower part of the inlet tube 3 and bears, at one end, against the screw 6 and at the other end against the bottom of a sliding cup 19 which has a central opening loosely fitting about the shank of stem 5 to pennit` passage of gas to the fabric 8. When the screw 6 is rotated to push the valve body 9 upwardly, by means of spring 18 and cup 19, the stem 5 is also pushed upwardly. This action tends either to maintain a constant selected pre-set distance between rigid members 5 and 9, or to lessen the distance between them to clamp or compress the fabric S therebetween, in accordance with the relative position of the parts.

Above the inlet tube 3, the outlet tube 11 is provided with a shoulder 20 against which bears a lever 21 hinged on a ball 22. The upper end of said lever 21 engages with a sleeve 23 sliding in a bore of a wall 24 and provided with a screwed bore with which engages the end of a screw 25 forming a control member for line adjustment. Said screw has a head 26 of which the edge is milled so as to enable it to be turned easily. Said screw has a cylindrical portion in which is provided a groove 27 to allow of axial fixing of said screw by means of a projection 2S engaging with said groove.

By causing the screw 25 to turn, an axial movement of the sleeve 23 is produced, the sleeve engaging in the upper end of the lever 21 in such a manner as not to be capable of turning relatively to the latter. This movement produces a pivoting of the lever about the ball 22, which is translated into a very small movement of the tube 11 in the interior of the tube 3. It is also possible to vary in a very precise manner, the distance between the parts 5 and 9, and thus the compression applied by these parts on the piece of fabric 8.

When the member 26 for the control of line adjustment is screwed thoroughly, the sleeve 23 moves towards the right and abuts against the shoulder formed by the Unthreaded part of the screw 2S, which limits the maximum height to which the flame can be adjusted by said member 26. It is possible to fix a maximum useful height by acting on the member 6 for controlling rapid adjustment. This device eliminates the risk of burns derived from too high a flame at the moment of lighting the burner, especially in the case when the user has actuated the member for tine adjustment, without paying any attention,

for example mechanicallyY during the course of a discuss1on.

The lower limit of the height of the flame which it is possible to obtain bymeans of the control member for tine: adjustment, may be determined Vby the upper en'd .of

the lever 21' coming into contact with thetube 11. This limit may also be determined simplyby the increase of the pressure to be applied to the fabric.8, said pressure making it diflicult to actuate themember 26 when the fabric...

8 is compressed strongly.

It will be seen that the movement transmitted to the part 9 by the member. for controlling the line adjustment formed by the screw 25, is subjected to two successive reductions, namely a reduction obtained by means of the porting plug 30 and a movable valve body 9, having an y orilice 10 for supplying gas to the burner. The plug 3@ is screwed into the smallest diameter of a tubular'shell 31 before said shell is mounted in the lighter casing. As

shown, said shell 31 has its intermediate diameter screwed into a threaded boss 32 iixedly carried by wall 33 of the reservoir of the lighter, with the interposition of a fluidtight joint 34.

As in the first form of construction, the valve body 9 contains a movable stem 12 which is urged upwardly by spring 16 and which stern has its lower portion enlarged as at 12a with its bottom end provided with a fluidtight lining 12b adapted to close the orifice 10 when the stem 12 is pushed downwardly by a cover, not shown. The valve body 9 is force-fitted linto a tubular regulator element 36 whose upper external portion is threaded and engages in the threaded bore of the actuating member 37, which, as shown, is in the form of a recessed disc. The actuating member 37 is intended to control the ine adjustment. The outer edge of the disc is milled at 38 and the side wall of its recess is threaded as at 39 to engage with threads on the upper part of the shell 31.

A spring washer 40 is confined inthe shell 31 and bears, at one end, against the latter and at the other end, against the annular flange 41 of the regulator element 36 so as to provide friction which offers resistance to the rotation of the said regulator element relative to the shell 31. For increasing frictional resistance the Washer 40 is serrated at its outer edge to provide teeth on its edge which bears against sides of the chamber of shell 31 in which it is housed. The washer 40 is shown in Figure 6 in perspective. Preferably said washer is in the form of an annular elastic strip cut to provide opposite ends which are axially displaced in opposite directions. This formation causes the-washer to tend to space the valve body 9 from theplug 30. Moreover, said washer tends to cushion the pressure applied to the wick 29 by-rotating the actuating disc 37.

The lactuating member 37 has threads of different pitch for engagement with the regulator element 36 and thegaging'threads on the regulator element 36 and actuating v element or disc are of equal pitch.

When it is desired to effect a rapid adjustment of the ame,\for example, for washing the part of the wick 29 at which thelevaporation ofthe gasis'etfected, it is'possible to turn the regulator 36 relatively to the actuating element or disc 37 for fine adjustment, which is held stationary..

For this purpose, the part 36 is provided, near its upper end with a part of non-circular section which is visiblerv in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows a Spanner 42 having two orifices 43 and 44 of which the section corresponds with that of the upper part 36, in such -=a manner as to permit of the use of said Spanner so as to screw or unscrew the part 36-relatively to the member 37. This operation requires i the use of a spanner'asit necessitates a fairly strong force by reason of friction which is produced by the resilient washer 40 between the part 34 and the-body 31 of the burner.

In the form of construction shown in Fig. 3, itis advantageous for the two threads ofthe member 37 to have left-hand pitches in order to obtain a stop limiting the movementV of the member 37 so as to fix the maximum.

height of the tiame. In fact, it is desirable that, according to use, a rotation of the member 37 in an anti-clockwise direction produces an increase in the height of the liame. This height is limited when the inner surface 45 of themember 37 comes into contact with the upper annular face 46 of the body 31. For obtaining a reduction in height ofthe flame, it is necessary to turn the member 3'7' in a clockwise direction, which corresponds, by reason of the left-hand pitch, to an unwinding of this memberV on the body- 31. This unscrewing is limited progressively by the greater and greater force which must be applied l to the member for efectively compressing the wick 29 between the parts 9 and 30.

The burner according to Fig. 3 is provided in all withy three adjusting control members, `as the part 3i) can be screwed more or less into the body 31 of the burner,

which permits of varying the tension of the spring formed by the washer 44X Said part 30 thus forms a third member for controlling the adjustment, the first two members being respectively formed by the member 37 and the part of non-circular section of the part 36.

The burner above described is very advantageous, as it consists of an assembly capable of being secured to the reservoirof the lighter, which simplifies the construction of the latter.

lt will be understood that the forms of construction described may be modified considerably. The burner shown in Fig. 3 may, in particular, be provided with a sufficiently long body so as to pass through the whole of l' he reservoir, in such a manner that the part 30 may be screwed, more or less, into the body 31 by acting thereon from the outside. In this case it is possible to omit the Spanner shown in Fig. 5 andV not to impart a particular shape .to the part above the member 36, as the rapid adjustment may also be obtained simply by screwing the part 30 more or less into the body 31.

It will be understood that all types of reducing means may be provided for obtaining fine adjustment, for example by using a worm, a combination of levers, planetary A gears and so forth. lIn the forms of construction described, the fine adjustment range was smaller than that of. `rapid adjustment, by reason of the construction adopted, but it will be understood that the range of fine adjustment may also be at least as large as that'of rapid l adjustment.

Finally, the examples described relate to lighters inv which the fuel is a liquefied gas, but it will be understood that analogous devices may be applied to petrol lighters..

What I claim is:

l. A gas lighter including, a casing having a body, a cover pivoted to the body, a yielding abutment on the cover, means forming a fuel reservoir, coarse fuel adjustment means including a fuel inlet tube having a fuel receiving orifice communicating with the reservoir, an abutment pin including a head and a shank, a set screw plug on the lower end of said shank, a cup tted to the shank of said pin, a spring on the shank of the pin and confined Ibetween said screw plug and. the underside of the cup, a valve body resting on the upper edge of the cup 'and having an vorifice facing the head of the pin, a porous element in said cup between said oriiice and the head of the pin an outlet tube internally having a valve chamber `and bore, a valve proper in said chamber and having a stem extending through said bore, the end of the stem opposite the valve projecting beyond the open end of the bore to be engaged by the spring urged stud on the cover when the latter is closed to cause the valve to seal the oriiice member, a spring in said chamber normally biasing said valve and its stem to unseated position relative to said orifice, an external shoulder on -said outlet tube; and iine fuel adjustment means including a lever fulcrume-d in the casing to provide a short arm for engaging said shoulder and a long arm opposite said short arm, an internally threaded sleeve on the free end of the long arm of the lever, and a fine adjustment member rotatably supported in a iixed position in the casing and having an expose-d knob and a threaded portion engaging within said internally threaded sleeve, whereby, angular adjustment of the exposed knob will cause relative minute movement of the outlet tube to vary the distance between the head of the abutment pin and the orifice member.

2. A lighter including a casing having a burner and a fuel reservoir, two relatively adjustable rigid members one of which has an opening, a tubular member establishing communication between said opening and the burner, a porous compressible fuel absorbing element between said rigid members and communicating with said reservoir, and a plurality of means operable from the outside of the casing for adjusting said rigid members to provide a coarse and tine adjustment respectively of the flame at the burner, said means for effecting coarse adjustment including one of said rigid members turnable on an axis coinciding with the axis of said opening in the other of said rigid members to selectively pre-set the members for coarse adjustment, and line adjustment means engageable with said tubular member for producing said ne ame.

3. A lighter comprising a reservoir and a burner, means for controlling the variable height of the burner ame, said means including a porous fuel absorbing body, two rigid members for compressing said porous body between them, at least one of said members being accessible from the exterior of the reservior to be adjustable to permit a relative pre-set displacement between said rigid members to modify the extent of compressing the porous body to provide coarse fuel adjustment, and other means also accessible from the exterior of the reservoir for acting on the other of said rigid members to displace it a slight distance relative to the other rigid member to assure a more line and precise adjustment than that obatined by the action of the coarse adjustment means.

4. A lighter including a casing having a burner and a fuel reservoir, two relatively adjustable rigid members one of which has an opening, -a tubular member establishing communication between said opening and the burner, a porous compressible fuel absorbing element between said rigid members and communicating with said reser- 6 voir, and a plurality of means operable from the outside of the casing for selectively adjusting said rigid members to provide a line and coarse adjustment of the flame, said means for effecting coarse adjustment including one of said rigid members, turnable on an axis coinciding with the axis of said opening in the other of said rigid members, and said line adjustment means including a lever having one end engaging the tubular member, and means at the other end of said lever `disposed substantially at right angles thereto and having a finger engaging portion exposed at a side of the casing.

5. In a lighter including a casing having a reservoir, a burner, a pivoted cover, means for selectively controlling the magnitude of the ilame at the burner when the cover is open by regulating the supply of fuel thereto from said reservoir, said means comprising a tubular shell fitted to the casing and having openings in its lower portion communicating with the reservoir, an abutment adjustably fitted in the shell at the reservoir side thereof, a wick extending across the -abutment and into the reservoir, a tubular regulator element within the shell, a hollow valve body fitted in one end of the regulator element and slidable therewith in relation to the shell and having its lower orifice end engaging the portion of the wick extending across the abutment, a stem movable in the hollow valve body and having means to seal the inlet end of the orifice when the cover is closed, a spring for moving the stem to uncover the orifice of the valve body when the cover is Open; and a rotatable actuating member concentric with the tubular shell, the regulator element and the valve body, and cooperating with said valve body to effect adjustment of the regulator element: said actuating member having threads of different pitch `for engagement with related threads on the tubular regulator element and the tubular shell, and the regulator element and actuating member having mating threads of equal pitch, whereby, when the actuating mem-ber is turned it will control adjustment of the ilame from line to coarse,` and vice versa; and means for imposing frictional resistance between the tubular shell and the valve body.

6r. A lighter according to claim 5, wherein, said regulator element also has an exposed end of non-circular `cross section to enable the :same to be turned by means of a Spanner applied thereto, to screw on and to unscrew the Valve body relative to the threads for fine adjustment and thus obtain a quick -adjustment of the valve body to cleanse the Wick.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,525,733 Haskell Feb. 10, 1925 2,737,037 Zellweger Mar. 6, 1956 2,737,795 Gruber Mar. 13, 1956 2,808,714 Wilson Oct. 8, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 739,940 Great Britain Nov. 2, 1955 1,097,435 IFrance Feb. 16, 1955 

